Monday, August 3, 2015

"I
have not one scintilla of doubt that the western central banks have
set us up for an even bigger version of the 2008 Great Financial
Crisis."Albert
Edwards

Soft
Creamy Filling:
US wages rose by 0.2% in the last quarter, giving a 2% y/y increase.
This
is the weakest
wage growth since
records began in 1982 and
lower than all estimates by
the inflation fighters at the Fed. Couple no wage growth with the
crappy sort of jobs the recovery is providing (adding 1.4 million
waiters and barkeeps while losing the same number of good-paying
manufacturing jobs)
while headline unemployment reaches 5.3% as the employment
participation rate sets another new low. Caving
Inn:
Naturally, with fewer workers making less real income, home
ownership continues to drop, now reaching a 48 year low, while the
median monthly rent reaches a record $803. New home sales are at
about one-third of 2005's level. Growth
Sputter:
As measured by GDP growth, the US economy hasn't grown much in the
last decade – the first decade since WWII with not a single year
with a 3% or higher GDP increase. “This
has been a uniquely slow period of growth that's delivered very
little for low- and middle-income households.'' The
Sky May Fall, The Sky May Fall!
Given the poor economy, terrible housing industry, absent wage
pressure and decided lack of enthusiasm for borrowing money by the
real economy outside of Wall Street, why should money cost more this
fall? The only plausible explanation is that the bright guys at the
Fed are scared that all the QE money printing is going to suddenly
turn in to rampant inflation. It is not, but failing to learn from
experience seems to be an essential requirement to be a central
banker (“We are in good shape...”). So they'll start hiking
rates – at least 0.25% this fall, just in time for the next rung
down in our
descent into a deflationary depression. The
Other 1%:
“The job of finance is to provide capital to companies. We do it to
the tune of $250 billion a year in IPOs and secondary offerings,”
Vanguard's Jack Bogle explains. . “What else do we do? We encourage
investors to trade about $32 trillion a year. So the way I calculate
it, 99% of what we do in this industry is people trading with one
another, with a gain only to the middleman. It’s a waste of
resources.” That $32 trillion is about twice the entire US
economy, constantly from pocket to pocket with Wall Street extracting
a toll for every transfer and, in then end, ending up with most of
it. And yet they're
the ones who get the bailouts – as a reward for their reckless
and wasteful gambling. War
On Women:
Mike Huckabee says that as president he would use federal troops to
stop women from having abortions. Constitution? What Constitution.
Rights don't matter when votes are at stake. Ah,
That Explains It:
Research suggests we are more creative when we are being sarcastic.
I thought it was a substitute for hitting something. Or someone.Reading,
Writing & Robbery:Nevada has
a new school voucher plan that is, like all the other voucher plans
in all the other states, designed to bankrupt public schools and
convert education into propaganda sessions. Nevada
is a
one-party, all Republican state;
there are 24 of them ripe for the picking. Starting
next school year, any parent in Nevada can pull a child from the
state’s public schools and take tax dollars - $5,100
to $5,700 per student - with
them. The money can be
spent on private schools, parochial schools, or best of all, home
schooling.The
bill was shaped by Jeb Bush's Foundation
for Excellence in Education.

Priorities:
The cop cars in Jefferson County, IL now have “In God We Trust”
painted on them.
Well, you sure can't trust the cops.

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

There are a few freaks who truely believe they can win this thing; maybe Huckabbe is one of them, but my guess is most of them are in it for the money. Clinton made a mistake in her run for president the first time, but she kept her surplus from her Senate seat, which she is allowed to use for personal expensiveness even after leaving office. Others to it because it add $ to their speaking fees on the dinner circuit, and exposure to various ALEC clients. The best summary I've seen though is this cartoon which came out today.

Our Motto

Keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.